Siege of Paris IV (Norman-123)
The Siege of Paris IV was an engagement between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant Empire on the UNSC fortress world of Paris IV in the Paris System. It was the fifth largest engagement in the Human-Covenant War, ranking behind Earth, Reach, Psi Serpentis and the Harvest Campaign It took place in 2549. Background Paris IV, prior to the Covenant invasion was a thriving human colony. Unfortunately, in early 2548, the Paris system was discovered by a Covenant fleet. The Covenant sent a small scout fleet to the system, consisting of four corvettes. They were quickly wiped out by the UNSC garrison, although not before one Corvette managed to deploy a large amount of troops in Dijon, a fairly large city in Paris IV. Battle Winter Contingency During a routine patrol of the Paris system, the UNSC Brimstone encountered a slipspace rupture, from which four Covenant corvettes emerged. They quickly called for reinforcements, and engaged one of the Corvettes while the other three headed straight for the planet. Using their MAC round to drop the shields of the Covenant corvete, they then finished off the Corvette with several Archer Missiles and another under-powered MAC shot. Since they managed to ambush the Corvette, they sustained some minor damage during the battle. Meanwhile, the other three corvettes headed straight for Paris IV. Two were destroyed by the ships in orbit, but the third one managed to make it to one of the cities, Dijon and deploy a sizable amount of troops. Battle of Dijon Corvette's Attack The UNSC Army was quick to respond to the threat, however the Corvette used it's pulse lasers and plasma torpedo launcher to destroy large parts of the city. Anti-air artillery missiles managed to destroy the Corvette after seven salvos, stranding the Covenant attackers. The UNSC Army counterattacked in force, and Longswords and Falcons destroyed any Phantoms and Spirits attempting to extract soldiers. They managed to wipe out the Covenant offense, although they lost nearly one third of the city and took heavy civilian casualties. Larger Attack One of the first areas the Covenant attacked was Dijon, responding to a request for reinforcements from a surviving lance of Sangheili. While the fleets battled it out in orbit, two frigates made an in-system slipspace jump behind the UNSC lines and headed straight for Dijon. One frigate, lacking shields after the jump was destroyed by a UNSC frigate, although the second frigate destroyed the UNSC frigate once it's weapons and shields had recharged and headed straight for Dijon. The frigate began by using drop pods to send commandos down to the city. Spec-Ops teams of Sangheili spearheaded the attack on the UNSC Army. After clearing a landing zone, the frigate used it's gravity lift to deploy many troops. After deploying Seraphs, Banshees and Vampires, they quickly gained air superiority. The UNSC Air Force was eliminated in the skies above Dijon. All UNSC Army forces were wiped out, and the frigate began using it's plasma torpedos to glass Dijon. The UNSC responded by firing four nuclear missiles at Dijon, destroying the city, and the Covenant attackers. The frigate was also destroyed, however the entire city and nearby areas were blanketed in deadly amounts of radiation. Assault on SUMATRAN Research Facility Another location the Covenant assaulted was SUMATRAN Research Facility. A single Covenant corvette assaulted the base at the about the same time the second attack on Dijon broke out. The corvette began bombarding facilities, causing medium-to-light casualties. SUMATRAN Research Facility's defenders were quick to respond. The facility, which researched Covenant plasma weapons and garrisoned some of their working projects most notably the Rhino, put their plasma weapons to great effect, causing severe damage to the Corvette. Plasma rounds from the ground wiped out the Corvette's shields, and the capital ship was blasted out of the sky with missile fire. After wiping out all stragglers, A squadron of Rhinos moved out to combat the Covenant on other locations on the globe. Space Battle The Covenant fleet quickly rushed the planet, however this time, the alert UNSC forces dished out heavy casualties thanks to a few well-placed nuclear minefields and the Orbital Defense Platforms. The Covenant fleet, not expecting the heavy resistance took heavy casualties. While the Covenant ships were massively superior, the orbital defense platforms combined together with a nuclear minefield to keep the Covenant at a safe distance. An in-system slipspace maneuver by a Sangheili Zealot Commander that was meant to deploy ground troops onto the planet resulted in a battlegroup of ten ships emerging into a nuclear minefield., causing a incredibly heavy loss of ships and life for the Covenant. Fleet Master Lora 'Talamee decided to lay siege to the planet and drain it's supplies, and wait for further reinforcements. Unfortunately for him, shortly after this order, his Supercarrier's escorts were hit by a Super-MAC round, which went through two ships and slammed into his own. Several more MAC rounds from UNSC warships destroyed his Supercarrier, leaving the Covenant fleet leaderless. Operation:UNSAFE HARBOR Battle of the Paris VII Gas Mines Despite the loss of their commander, the Covenant fleet continued their siege. One of their supply ships was destroyed by archer missiles, and they were forced to set up a methane mining operation on Paris VII, which was a gas giant that had large amounts of methane in it's atmosephere. UNSC naval ships spotted the mining operation, and a mission was quickly put together to put an end to the operation and cut grunts from their methane. However, with the Covenant deploying troops en masse to the planet's surface, to both the generators for the orbital defense grid, but also to other locations such as civilian cities and groundside mass drivers. They were only able to spare one company of ODSTs, and one team of Spartan-II Class IIIs, Turquoise Team. They were deployed by a captured Phantom that was damaged, although it was slightly repaired. When they docked on the station, they initially encountered light resistance, the majority of them being unarmed Unggoy slave workers. However, they alerted on-board armed security teams, lead by elites. The covenant gave stiff resistance, and the ODSTs provided a distraction by generally blasting everything in sight. Meanwhile, the Spartans fought their way to the storage area for the methane, where they would rig a bomb and escape. However, before Turquoise could make it, a squad of Covenant Special Operations engaged them. Olivia-361 was stuck by a plasma grenade, and threw herself at an elite. Both Spartan and Elite were killed by the explosion, in addition to causing third and fourth degree burns to nearby elites. However, despite the loss of Olivia-361, the spec ops elites were killed. Adam and Lucia moved on to the storage room, where they placed a large amount of explosives, then ordered all units to retreat. Unfortunately, heavy resistance from Covenant prevent this. Many ODSTs were killed in the fighting, and Turquoise assisted a squad of ODSTs being pinned down by a hastily set up plasma turret. They headed to the hangar bay of the station, but the ODSTs were killed by Covenant on the way. In the end, Turquoise was forced to retreat from the station and remotely detonate the explosives, killing the few ODSTs left on board and all the Covenant on board, in addition to several cargo ships transporting the methane to the ships and Paris IV's surface. Battle of Lake Antonie A Covenant assault carrier managed to slip past the orbital defense grid and began deploying troops by Lake Antonie. The UNSC Army responded by sending a massive attack force. The Covenant had not bothered to set up many defensive measures, and the battle was fairly even. However, the assault carrier began attacking the UNSC troops with its weapons, forcing a retreat. Operation:JAWBREAKER Operation JAWBREAKER was hastily put together to remove the Assault Carrier from Lake Antonie. Spearheaded by Lieutenant Commander Carlos Albert in his Saber, a destroyer squadron and four longsword squadrons assaulted the Supercarrier. As the supercarrier fired its energy projector at a destroyer, it was forced to lower its shields. At that moment, the UNSC longswords and saber struck. A Longsword with a SHIVA nuke hit the energy projector port, destroying the Supercarrier. However, before it was destroyed, it fired a volley of plasma torpedos, destroying another UNSC destroyer. However, a large amount of Seraph fighters were still present. They managed to destroy the third UNSC Destroyer by ramming it at high speeds, but were destroyed by the Saber and few remaining Longswords. UNSC Counterattack As debris from the destroyed assault carrier rained down from the sky, UNSC forces prepared to assault the Covenant again. The debris, falling from a high altitude and at high speeds did some of their work for them. UNSC Artillery bombarded Covenant positions, followed by hordes of infantry. The Covenant, demoralized by the loss of their supercarrier and then demoralized even more when they were crushed under the debris of their supercarrier (unless they were dead) were at a serious disadvantage. A overwhelming UNSC mechanized infantry charge eradicated the Covenant from the sector. Battle of Lione Plains The Battle of Lione Plains was a relatively short aerial battle. 200 Phantoms, escorted by 300 Seraphs were flying over the area, headed to the nearby city of Barnave. Skyhawks and Longswords from the UNSC 15th Air Force attacked them while they were flying over the area, while supported by an armor battalion. Wolverines on the ground provided assistance. The Covenant aerial forces were taken by surprise and destroyed relatively quickly. Despite the fact that the UNSC were heavily outnumbered, an advantage UNSC Fighter Aircraft enjoyed was a tremendous advantage in range. Long-ranged missiles from many kilometers away decimated Covenant forces before they could even counterattack. By the time the UNSC Aircraft were finally in range, there were far fewer Covenant aircraft. Wolverines cut through any Covenant aircraft, inflicting incredible casualties. In the end, the entire Covenant aerial attack force was wiped out, with only a few UNSC casualties. Battle of Servoz Servoz, a large UNSC city was attacked by the Covenant. An assault carrier docked over the city and began deploying troops. The UNSC Army responded, resulting in brutal urban combat. The assault carrier was damaged by a mass driver when it attempted to fire its weapons and forced to retreat, however there were still large amounts of Covenant. Evacuation efforts were hindered by large amounts of Covenant Banshees and Vampires, and limited air support in the area didn't help. The Covenant set up Type-34 Tyrant batteries to further hinder evacuation efforts, one in Lear District and two by the ruins of Servoz Hospital. Army Special Operations were able to destroy the one in Lear District, but the two by Servoz Hospital were too heavily defended. The Covenant had a difficult time taking the city however, due to stiff resistance. However, three CSS-Class Battlecruisers arrived above and began glassing the city. The UNSC launched all evacuation craft and ordered a full scale retreat, then had one of the orbital defense platforms fire directly at the city, destroying two CSS-Class Battlecruisers. It also destroyed the city, killing everyone, Covenant or UNSC inside the city. Battle of Maurice Isthmus A Covenant carrier managed to dock above Maurice Island, deploying large amounts of troops. Maurice island was connected to an area nearby New Paris, the capital of Paris IV with an isthmus. With the mainland secured, the Covenant sent Wraiths straight down the isthmus to break a hole in UNSC lines. The carrier provided aerial interdiction, firing repeatedly on UNSC positions. Fifteen mass drivers stationed nearby opened fire on the carrier, followed by long range surface to air missiles, destroying the carrier. However, the covenant offensive was still going. The UNSC defenders were forced to retreat from the shore when a Scarab moved down Maurice Island, blasting aside dozens of UNSC fortifications. A strafing attack from two AC-220 Vultures pushed back the Covenant offensive for a while, until one was shot down by Seraph fighters. An ICBM was able to finally destroy the Covenant scarab, however, the Covenant forces kept moving. Already weakened by plasma bombardment from the Covenant carrier and Scarab, the UNSC lines began to falter in the face of the armored offensive. UNSC soldiers were quickly cut down by the Covenant offensive, and they went on to destroy many defensive structures in the area, such as mass drivers and anti-air weapons. The Covenant were then poised to strike at New Paris. Battle of Hervé The 8th Fleet of Everlasting Righteousness Battle of Destot The UNSC Third Fleet Battle of New Paris Aftermath Despite the enormous casualties the Covenant took, the loss of Paris IV was a huge loss for the UNSC. Paris IV, at this point in time was one of the most succesful colonies, and considered by some second only to Reach. An enormous amount of casualties were taken during the battle, and there was also a massive amount of Covenant casualties. Many research facilities were also lost. On the Covenant side however, they had also suffered a rather humiliating defeat. In addition to that, the subsquent Operation:THUNDERBOLT all but destroyed the remaining Covenant ships, due their inability to fight back since they had used up the vast majority of the plasma in their weapons glassing the world.